I do know that the planners at SFO worked with both Airbus and Boeing to try to make sure that the new International Terminal at SFO would be able to accommodate a future superjumbo. In fact, there are two specially-designated gates that will accommodate the A380 - one at the end of the A Concourse, and one at the end of the G Concourse. They have an extra-large gate holding/seating area, multiple airbridges, etc. I took the grand-opening tour of the International Terminal in December 2000 and they made sure to point this out. -- Michael C. Berch mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Monday, December 1, 2003, at 12:05 PM, B787300@xxxxxxx wrote: > I presume you are correct about having the Asian airlines in mind and > it > certainly sounds logical. However, somebody at Airbus is intelligent > enough to > know that the Asian carriers would want to serve LAX with the beast. > Airbus > should have approached the airport to see if there would be any > problems with the > size of the aircraft, instead of designing it first, starting > production and > then trying to cram it down the throats of LAX and other airports that > simply > don't have the spacing available between runways and runways, runways > and > taxiways, taxiways and taxiways, etc. > > Gate hold room sizes are yet another additional problem as you state. > The > beast will probably take up two or three gate apron areas due to the > wingspan. > No wonder this thing is unloved. > > I fail to see how shops will benefit from passengers getting off the > A380. > After a long-ass flight they'll want to clear Immigrations/Customs and > get the > hell out of the airport to a hotel to recuperate from the flight. The > last > thing on their minds will be shopping inside the terminal. > > Jose Prize > Fan of reality